Psalm 85:10-13 (NIV)
10 Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. 12 The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. 13 Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.

Amos 5:24 (MSG)
21-24 “I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.

I can’t stand your religious meetings! I hate going to church. Take your God and shove it. Sorry sports kids, you didn’t think that first, God did. A God that looks at our actions and tells us Whoa, I’m not about that – well, that’s a God I can relate to. I’m grateful to have found a place where it’s possible to be with him and for him in a community of believers. It is a cool place.

What does God want? Oceans of justice. We’re talking social justice here. Oceans of freaking social justice. That’s right. He expects oceans of social justice. And rivers of fairness. Rivers of fairness feeding oceans of justice.

Micah 6:8 (ESV)
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Where love and faithfulness meet together, where righteousness and peace kiss each other, that’s where His goodness will rain down on us, but faithfulness and righteousness come first. Justice and fairness come first. We have to do these things. We have to be available for God to use us, but our heart and mind have to be in the right place first. We have to put God before us.

No, it’s not easy, but when you are looking for the benefits, you’d better be looking at what He wants first.

Luke 18:26-27 (ESV)
26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”